Your Red Rings
by msknowitall
Summary: HPTS- Scorprose in the Making series: Scorpius Malfoy is nothing but trouble in Rose's eyes, but we see he really isn't.  Beginning of the Summer of Third Year.  Scorpius Rose Scorprose Harry Potter NG


A.N. '_Louis'_ is pronounced the way it is by birth or the French way, Lou-ey. 'Louis' is pronounced the American way, Lou- iss. It is like this in all my fanfictions because _Louis_ is called Louis by James, Katherin, and Rose because it annoys him.

Disclaimer: I don't own this! If I did, I would have Ron screaming Rat Juice at the top of his lungs every time Draco had said the word 'death'.

Enjoy!

Your Red Rings

End of Third year had finally came for Rose; she couldn't wait to get home and finish the last of her homework before going to Gran and Grandad's house with her mom and dad for a week. The only thing that dampened her mood was the fact that Scorpius Malfoy was coming over for the first week of summer. Scorpius Malfoy was a _Slytherin_ boy in Rose's year that happened to be friends with Al. Al and Malfoy only became friends after being forced to do a potions project together. Rose had still gotten a high score but that was the only time Albus had ever matched to her grade, ever.

Rose was walking down the corridor to Great Hall fully intent on the last meal she would have before leaving Hogwarts. Lily ran up behind her followed by a scuttling Hugo and an ecstatic Bev. Bev, Lily and Hugo were all first years. Bev was in Gryffindor with them and had been almost eaten by a transfigured crocodile at the beginning of the school year. Obviously, since the Potter and Weasley families had always gravitated toward trouble, Lily and Hugo had been friends with her ever since. "Rose, Rose, you'll never believe my mail."

Rose turned around to look at the three. She saw the letter in Lily's hand and grabbed it in a swift motion.

'Dear Lily, sorry this isn't very long, just wanted to get it to you fast. You can go with Beverly for the first week of summer break. We'll come get you after a week. Behave yourself, don't choose now to become like James. Love, Mum.'

Rose finished reading it and handed it back to Lily. Lily squealed and ran the rest of the way down the hallway with Bev. Hugo stood with Rose staring after his friends. "What am I supposed to do without Lily around?"

"Play Quidditch, I guess." Rose shrugged her shoulders and continued to the Great Hall with Hugo sighing heavily and continuing on only a few steps behind her; he has never liked quidditch.

When she arrived at the Hall, she smiled a little seeing Lily rub the letter in James' face saying something like, "Now I don't have to deal with your fat head for a whole week." Bev was giggling, she was an only child.

Rose walked past them leaving Hugo laughing at Lily's tactics and James' spluttering. Before she made it into the Great Hall she ran into Katherin, a Gryffindor 2 years above her. "Have you seen James, Louis was wondering where he was?" _Sure, _Louis_ was wondering, you look pretty worried yourself, of course it may be that you pulled a prank and hope he hasn't found out yet._

"He's getting a 'yelling at' by Lily out in the entrance." Rose pointed out the door.

"Thanks, I do hope he didn't open his trunk yet." _Yep, totally, scared about a prank._

Rose skipped over to Gryffindor table and started filling her plate with food. She was rather surprised to find Al not there yet, but it was probably just an instance of him sleeping late. She ate in peace until Louis came and sat down with James right behind him. Lily floated in with Bev, while Hugo sulked. Katherin sat on the other side of Rose, chuckling slightly. Rose tried her best to ignore them, but it didn't work. Suddenly, Katherin laughed her booming laugh that echoed on the walls of the Great Hall, and she couldn't stop; James didn't miss a beat, he was standing up yelling at her in an instant about some kind of, "Purple Hog Bee Honey Mess." _Yeah, I haven't a clue either._

When Al joined them, he stood awkwardly next to Hugo, looking at James and Katherin with raised eyebrows. Lily then passed him her letter and made him sit down.

Breakfast passed quickly allowing everyone to go back to Gyffindor Tower and pack to go home.

Hugo was still sulking and Lily was still floating. James was still furious and Katherin was still in fits of laughter. Louis was still silent watching his two best friends and Al was still confused. Bev was still giddy and Rose was still trying to figure out why everyone was _still_ acting the way they were.

The train ride passed with Rose's nose in a book trying furiously to ignore the idiotic males that were in her compartment. When she got off the train, she scanned the platform for her mum. Dad waved to her so she trudged over to him. She hugged him and looked around a little more. "Your mum's not here."

"What do you mean?" Rose put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot lightly on the pavement.

"She went on a retreat with her work. It was scheduled for last week but got delayed because of rain. She and Ginny will be back at the end of the week." Dad explained it while he scanned the disembarking students for the other 4 children he was responsible for getting to the house. Hugo was with Bev and Lily talking to them before they left with Bev's mom. James watched as Louis said goodbye to Katherin, with a sour expression.

Al came running up with Malfoy right behind him. Al hugged his uncle while Malfoy stood there awkwardly trying to ignore the glares he got from Dad and Rose. When James came over he was thoroughly lost in some kind of thought, _if that is possible for someone like him._ Hugo was glaring as he was pulled over to the family by Lily; Lily told him to, "Stay!" and left walking briskly back to Bev with an annoyed expression.

That's when it hit Rose. _I'm stuck with a house of 6 MALES for a whole week._

"WEASLEY!"

"Huh?" She came out of he daze noticing that Malfoy had called her. The rest of the family had started to walk away and he was looking at her, his face close to hers. She felt her face heat up so she grabbed her trunk and stormed after her family leaving, Malfoy jogging to catch up.

The first few days went by with Rose finishing her homework and trying to keep James out of trouble. _Besides, it isn't working anyway, he decided to say 'hello' to the cat by pelting it with eggs. I feel bad for the cat, but it should know to run by now._ She had cooked all the meals so far, so poor Al has had to wake her up in the morning to make his breakfast. Al had gotten punched in the gut twice in the past three days by a half-asleep Rose.

Rose got out of bed and dressed herself in her knee length shorts and Greenish-blue half-sleeve shirt. She stared at herself in the mirror and sighed at the mess on her head. Rose didn't brush her hair; at school she used a spell and at home she had her mom, Aunt Ginny, or Lily take turns brushing it. She grabbed her rubber band and started putting the mess into a ponytail. When the rubber band snapped her eyes went wide with surprise. Rose didn't have another hair tie; she ended up letting other kids at Hogwarts use them when they lost theirs, so she had nothing to put her hair up with. She shook her head and went down stairs to cook for Albus.

Albus knew how to make eggs, knew how to pour cereal, and knew how to microwave leftovers but he didn't know what to do when they were out of cereal, James had pelted the eggs at the cat, and they'd eaten out the past two days. Rose started making pancakes. She mixed the batter and heated the griddle. When she finished with Al's pancakes she set them on the table with orange juice, milk, syrup, and the fresh berries so Al could start eating. While Al ate she made more pancakes as the rest of them trickled down.

Malfoy was next awake; he ate his like Al, with strawberries and syrup. Hugo stumbled in to eat his drowned in syrup and butter. Uncle Harry walked in and made his with blueberries. James and Dad came in and started piling everything that would fit on the plate atop their pancakes and race each other to finish. _There is never much talking at breakfast, most of the male brains are still asleep, if you believe they ever wake up, that is._

The window started tapping, so Rose went over to let what she knew was an owl in from the smoldering air. The pretty owl sat on the windowsill with a piece of parchment rolled up on its foot. Rosie reached up toward the cupboard to get the owl treats off the second shelf. Sad thing was, she couldn't reach it. _Why am I so damn short? Why can't I have grown more, why is mum so short?_ Behind her came footsteps and a pale hand reached over her head to grab the box of owl treats. _And why does it have to be him that is taller than me? Universe, why do you hate me so?_ Malfoy pulled out two and gave them to the bird.

Rose opened the parchment slowly. And quickly recognized the small cursive as Lily's neat handwriting.

Dear Rosie, I love it here with Bev.

They live in a muggle area and I got to see what a real car is like, not the one that Grandad rigged to fly and fit all of us in it. I think I'll stay here forever, I would never have to see James again, it would be like a dream come true. Mum sent me a postcard from some resort, I don't quite know why. As I said before I'm not coming back, I feel bad for you and Al, but I will never go back. Say 'hi' to Hugo for me and give my dad kisses and a hug. Love, Lily Luna

P.S. The owl's name is Hatter, we named him that because the spot on his head looks like a top hat.

Hugo grumbled about having to write her back so he headed for his room. Rose was used to not seeing her brother for hours at a time because it was a normal occurance for him to do his homework after breakfast while Albus and James would find something to do. Rose felt bad for Hugo. She knew that he felt left out of his group of friends. Dad would crash on the sofa for another hour or so while Uncle Harry went to his office to work. Malfoy waited at the table, doodling in a muggle notebook, until Rose finished her meal.

Rose turned off the griddle before she sat down to eat, carrying the tub of peanut butter with her. Malfoy looked at her weirdly and watched her smear it on her pancakes before placing the berries on them in a design. She cut into them and ate them, the peanut butter slowing her pace a great deal. She finished and picked up the dirty plates. When she turned around, she was surprised to see that Malfoy was putting toppings back into the fridge. She turned back to the dishes and started to run water into dish pans.

"Well, it's NOT _my_ fault!" Al yelled from the living room. Rose sighed exasperated and stormed into the adjacent room. She saw Albus looking at James with a furious expression and James glaring at him with a snarl at his lips. She saw Al's notebook for Potions in his hand. Flipped open to the page with doodles and hearts proclaiming Al's and Katherin's names. Rose stood between them and grabbed the notebook. She acted as if to take a closer look at it.

"I'm surprised you didn't tear this out. James, are you mad about this? Well, I'm sorry about it but I doodled these in his notebook when I was bored and thought it would be funny to see his expression when he noticed. Sorry." She took the notebook page out of the spiral binding with a quick tug and put it in her bag before walking back to the kitchen.

She stopped dead in the door at the sight of Malfoy washing dishes. He looked over his shoulder at her. He groaned softly at her then turned back to the dishes. "Don't just stand there, pick up a towel and dry, Weasley." In her stunned state, she actually listened and picked up the dish towel on the wall hook and start drying the dishes in the drying rack.

They worked in silence and when the dishes were done he emptied the wash bins into the bath tub around the corner. She started walking away to go to her room when she bumped into James. James had his quidditch helmet on and his broom in his hand. "Up for a game of two-on-two? Behind him Al stumbled down the last few stairs with his broom as well. He shot Rose a pleading smile.

"Sure." Came a response from behind her. She nodded, bobbing the mess on her head.

Rose and Al were the chasers; James and Malfoy were the keepers. How she ended with Malfoy as her teammate, she hadn't a clue but he was good at playing keeper. Rose and Malfoy were a good team, they didn't even have to speak to each other to plan things; this greatly annoyed Albus and James. "Hey, that has to count." Al spoke up in his whiny voice.

"No it shouldn't, he wasn't within the circle where the keeper is supposed to be, it is a foul." Rose shot back, flying forward to get into Al's face.

"But, it's not that hard to stay near the hoop. The keeper just has to stop the quaffle from going in the hoop, he didn't do that, he had spaced out." Al's eyes were squinted because of his face being scrunched up in annoyance.

"Just give them the point, Weaslette." Malfoy's face was tinged pink from being caught daydreaming on the quidditch pitch.

"No. It was a foul, they don't deserve two points." Rose yelled this back to her _teammate_ rounding on him instead of Al.

"Then give them one point and we'll keep playing." Malfoy said in a calm voice. Al's face was surprised and James looked irritated.

"Oi! How come you're siding with her?" James' growl was instantly recognized by Al and Rose, but Malfoy looked the slightest bit taken aback.

"She's _my_ teammate after all." Malfoy crossed his arms, before shrugging them back to his side with an unpronounced sigh.

They kept playing, adding onto their scores of 15-12, Albus and James' favor. Rose had a new reason to play rough, so they quickly caught up and kept playing until they reached the 20 point mark that ends any two-on-two game.

Rose gave a holler, making a final throw. _I finally beat them, I've never beaten Albus or James in two-on-two, but I just won with both of them against me, WooHoo! Go me, go me. But I refuse to say that it was because of Malfoy, because that just isn't me. Go me, not Malfoy, Go me, not Malfoy! _Rose and Malfoy had won 20-17, that was 10 times the quaffle flew past James and into the hoop, and only eight and a half times for James and Albus. "Come on, then. I'm hungry." Albus proclaimed his state of hunger with a look of distaste on his face. After sharing a look, Rose and Malfoy headed toward the ground for lunch.

Rose got out the fixings for sandwiches and the teenage males all gathered around the table again. As soon as the food hit the table, there was a frenzy of who got what and how much was left of each. Malfoy finished making his sandwich first and started eating his ham and chedder with no problem. The others finished at various times; James finished last, other than Rose, and dug into his meal. Rose started delicately putting her sandwich together, she felt eyes on her but when she looked up, no one was looking her way.

"What's up with your hair, Ro?" Rose looked up suddenly the force pulling the ham part way out of her sandwich. Hugo was looking at her with a questioning gaze and the other teenagers were looking at him.

"What do you mean, Hugo?"

"It's kinda-"

"I have to go into the Ministry for a while with your father, we'll be back with dinner later." Uncle Harry intruded in on their lunch while finishing the buckles of his outer cloak. _How he wears a cloak at the beginning of summer is beyond me._ Al did a little happy dance at the idea that he wouldn't have to wake Rose up the next morning to eat. Hugo ran out of the room to do something, _no clue what, anybody else, by show of hands; do you know what Hugo is doing?_ Rose looked around the table at all the other confused faces, _apparently not._ Harry left the room with a smile and bid them a good afternoon.

When Hugo rushed back in, he had a large grin on his face. "Haven't a clue how, but you reminded me that a Grindylow is a nocturnal creature with red eyes, that was the answer to number 32 of my summer study for DADA, thanks Rose." He ran out of the room again, this time probably to return to his _exciting_ homework. _He should be able to tell that first year homework is not nearly as fun as my third year homework._

Having forgotten what they had been talking about, Albus and James ran out to their neglected brooms to practice quidditch. _I swear that is all that is on their minds._ Rose put the dishes in the sink and left them to deal with later. She was about to walk away when she saw Malfoy's notebook; a page was open. It was a quick drawing of her eating her pancakes that morning, next to it was a drawing of Albus playing chess and Hugo hiding behind her old copy of Hogwarts: a History Revised Version, complete with the mend in the binding where James tore it apart and her mum had put it back together. She smiled softly to herself before heading upstairs to grab a book. She soon found herself kneeling in front of her half size bookshelves trying to pick a good book. _ They all look so good, I don't quite know which to pick. The Scorch Trials, a muggle book that is a sequel to a very intense Maze Runner, or Brooms and Horse Shoes, a steampunk magic novel by a over 109 year old man depicting the life of him and his wife back in Victorian times, he admits it is steampunk because it is funnier if some of the modern day things are in it. Which to choose? _A creak came from behind her door; Rose braced herself for Albus or James, heck even Malfoy to jump in, but it never came. Rose walked toward the door and peeked out the crack she left in it. She heard low words coming from Hugo's room. It wasn't un-normal for Hugo to talk to himself, so Rose was about to turn away when she heard Malfoy's voice as well.

Quietly Rose made her way to her brother's door to listen in. _Where was a pair of extendable ears when you need them?_ She listened closely. "-okay to feel like that Hugo, to feel left out is normal."

"But… I don't have any other friends, what am I supposed to do?"

"Well, what I would do is march right up to them and hex them in the ears, scream insults at them, and then stick them to a wall all night." _Hey, that's what you did to me, you foul righteous git, telling my brother to do that. _ "That's what I did to your sister at the beginning of second year."_ Good thing you don't deny it or I would hang you from you toes and-_ "But, that was a bad decision." _What?_

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for you it means that you shouldn't follow my example, I was kinda jealous that she got to hang out with Al for the rest of the summer while I had to go home," _Oh, I never knew that… you GIT you should have told me this!_ "but… for me it means I should have used a better sticking charm." Rose could almost hear the smile in his voice.

Rose huffed back to her room, as quietly as possible after hearing what she had, and picked up a random book off her shelf and plopped down on her bed. She opened to a page and started reading. After a few lines, she threw it across the room, recognizing it as Romeo and Juliet. _NOT in the mood for your drama, I've got enough of my own!_ She sat herself steadily back in front of her bookcases, trying again to pick a book.

After a while she finally decided on a the muggle book, she was tired of magic at the moment, and went downstairs at about 1:30, tired of Hugo's mumbling, too. She sat on the couch, curled up a little, fully intent on reading the book cover to cover. It didn't take long before her silence was interrupted, but not by the usual noise of James and Albus fighting. Instead it was a much less irritating sound, _not that I would ever admit that out loud,_ made by a blonde haired boy telling her to sit up so he could sit too.

"Weasley, sit with your back against these." Malfoy was sitting with one leg along the back of the couch and the other hanging off the side, he had piled the three pillows on his lap so that they wouldn't be touching at all.

Rose was still half-way submerged in her reading, so she did as she was told and sat there with her feet up near her bum and the book resting on her knees. She had a quill in her hand, even though she was reading a story book and had been jotting things down as she went along. "Wait… what are you doing?" She asked this after her head finally came back to her and she realized what she had just done at the words of Malfoy and turned to see him with a hair brush in his hand.

"I'm going to brush your hair, Weasley." He said it in a bored drawl and rolled his eyes.

"Why?" She asked defensively, she crossed her arms and turned to face him more.

"Because it needs to be brushed, you seem to have no care for it and Albus and James are fighting outside. Now, turn around!"

She turned around her face getting red a little. "Do you even know how to brush hair?"

"Let's just say my mum used to have a maid brush her hair when she was upset, we lost the maid with the old house and Dad thought he was too manly to brush hair, so I had to learn to do it. She has curly hair like you, so don't worry too much."

"You know how to start at the-"

"Ends?" He finished for her. "Yes… yes I do."

"Okay then… fine." Rose turned to her book and let her hair be brushed. She didn't even feel it. When Aunt Ginny brushed it ever other stroke would ring about the house with a yelp of pain.

"Why are there two chairs in here… and how come they don't match?" Rose looked up and then back to her book collecting her thoughts before trying to explain.

She looked across the room at the two chairs. When ever she saw them it reminded her of her Gran and Grandad's.

There was a big mushy, brown chair and a red, angular chair, both with a suede material on them. Uncle Harry picked the red one; Aunt Ginny picked out the brown one. "Well, you see, Gran and Grandad's house has two chairs, one for Gran that is a bit shorter and the other that is a bit taller and more masculine for Grandad. They always sit in their chair when in that room, unless it is one of our birthdays and Gran lets us use her chair." Rose looks over to the wall still talking. "Aunt Ginny bought the brown one when Uncle Harry was at work. He came home to find her sleeping in the chair. It was when I was little and Hugo wasn't born yet. Uncle Harry didn't like that chair because it was too mushy, and he and Aunt Ginny got in a row and long story short Uncle Harry was sleeping on the couch for three days. Finally, Aunt Ginny came around and took him to the furniture store to get a chair for him; he picked out the red one because he liked it. Now they have both and most of us prefer one or the other." Rose paused, feeling Malfoy's hands in her hair, he had gotten to the crown and scalp so she could feel his fingers. Even she had to admit, _though not out loud,_ it wasn't and unpleasant feeling. _Oh… but I wish it was so I could hex him so bad._ "James likes the red one, he claims the brown one tried to kill him, you'd have to ask him to explain that. Albus doesn't really sit in either of them, he would rather sit on the floor if the couch is full. Lily likes to curl up in the brown one, she says it's because it feels like a very weak jelly charm. Hugo only likes the brown one because he knows that the cat won't go anywhere near the red one." Rose finished her story and sat looking at the chairs, she had never noticed how much she liked that story until now.

"What about you?" Malfoy spoke for the first time since she had began the story, he seemed to have let the story sink in.

"What do you mean?"

"Which chair do you prefer?"

"I like the red one. Hugo once accidentally turned my bed into jelly when we were little, he wasn't old enough to know what he was doing; he was just waving around Victoire's wand and shot a spell at my bed. I had been asleep and when I woke up, I screamed. I think that the brown one feels like that, so I don't like it as much." Rose was a bit bewildered as to why she had shared all this with him, but she figured that she didn't owe him anything for brushing her hair now.

He finished her hair in a matter of seconds. She turned to look at him, smiling slightly. "Thanks." Rose hopped off the couch and grabbed her broom and Malfoy's and ran out to the garden. When she saw Albus and James weren't fighting anymore, she proceeded to them.

"You don't look like you came from Mars anymore." Al said with mock surprise in his voice.

"No," Malfoy walked up behind her a small smirk playing on his lips, "besides, it was more like Saturn."

"Why?" James asked, Al's and Rose's faces matching his question.

Malfoy turned to Rose and with a serious face, "Because of your red rings." He then took his broom from her hand and walked over to the pitch, the others following. Albus was still confused, James was still out of it, and Rose was grumbling, _still_ trying to figure out why everyone was the way they were.


End file.
